Rice Cooker

Basic rice instructions

1. Don't bother rinsing your rice! It makes very little difference and wastes a lot of water.

2. Use somewhere between a 1:1 and 1:1.2 ratio of rice to water, depending on rice and your liking. I use 1:1 for Basmati rice and 1:1.2 for Jasmine rice (brown rice would need more, some parboiled rice would need less).

3. Add about a teaspoon of salt per cup of rice.

4. Add water, salt and rice to the cooker and switch to 'cook' position

5. One cup of white rice takes around 26 minutes to cook and three cups take around 33 minutes.

6. One cup of brown rice takes 60 minutes and three cups take 70 minutes.

7. Cooking time varies greatly depending on rice used. Keep testing it...

Coconut rice

1. 4 cups Rice

2. 400ml (tin) Coconut Milk

3. 3 litres Water or Stock

4. 4 tsp Salt (or less if using stock)

5. Prepare as described above

Vegetable steaming

1. Load steaming basket with vegetables (can take a maximum volume of about two heads of broccoli)

2. Boil 800ml water in a kettle (can just use rice cooker, but takes longer)

3. Add water to rice cooker, cover with lid and set switch to 'cook' (can use less water, but make sure there are at least 2cm of water in the base)

4. Wait until it comes back to the boil

5. Add loaded steamer basket and replace lid

6. Two heads of broccoli takes about 20 minutes to steam.

7. Cooking time varies greatly depending on quantity and type of vegetable, so keep checking until it is al dente...